Epistasis in Some Crosses of I₁ Red Clover Clones¹

Epistasls was examined in red clover ( Triticum pratense L.) by the method of Kearsey and Jinks. Six I 1 clones from a red clover introduction bulk were crossed with three testers, viz., I 1 fines 684 and 713, and their F 1 Epistasis was tested by the comparison of crosses to the I 1 testers vs. crosses to the F 1 tester. Significant epistasis (p ≤ 0.05) was indicated for survival on one of four dates after transplanting seedlings to a field near Lexington, Ky. No epistasis was indicated for vigor scores. Significant dominance variance was indicated for survival on three dates, and for vigor on one date. The data in general suggested that epistasis was not the major contrlbutor to heterosis in red clover single crosses.